SHARE ON: |
| |
| |
 |
 |
|
|
A Texas nurse was convicted Tuesday of capital murder in the deaths of four patients who died after prosecutors say he injected them with air following heart surgeries.
The Smith County jury deliberated for about an hour before finding William George Davis, of Hallsville, guilty of capital murder involving multiple victims. Prosecutors planned to seek the death penalty during the sentencing phase, which was scheduled to start Wednesday.
Davis, 37, was accused of injecting air into the four patients arteries after they underwent heart surgery at the Christus Trinity Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler in 2017 and 2018. During recovery from their surgeries, the four -- John Lafferty, Ronald Clark, Christopher Greenway and Joseph Kalina -- suffered unexplained neurological problems and died.
During the trial, Dr. William Yarbrough, a Dallas-area pulmonologist and professor of internal medicine, explained to the jury how injecting air into the arterial system of the brain causes brain injury and death.
Yarbrough said he was able to determine there was air in the arterial system of the victims brains by viewing images from brain scans -- something he said he had never before observed in his decades in medicine.
He ruled out blood pressure problems or any other causes of death besides the injection of air, and said it must have happened after the surgeries because the complications occurred while the patients were in recovery.
Defense attorney Phillip Hayes told the jury that the hospital had issues and that Davis was a scapegoat who was only charged because he was there when the deaths occurred.
Prosecutor Chris Gatewood said during closing arguments that Davis liked to kill people. And prosecutor Jacob Putman said the hospital hadnt changed any of its procedures and hadnt had any similar incidents since Davis left.
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
11 am |
| 22 ℃ |
| BROKEN CLOUDS |
WIND: NNE 10 KM/H
GUSTING TO 11 KM/H |
|
|
|
12 pm |
| 23 ℃ |
| BROKEN CLOUDS |
WIND: NNE 10 KM/H
GUSTING TO 12 KM/H |
|
|
 |
1 pm |
| 24 ℃ |
| SCATTERED CLOUDS |
WIND: NNE 9 KM/H
GUSTING TO 11 KM/H |
|
|
|
2 pm |
| 26 ℃ |
| SCATTERED CLOUDS |
WIND: NE 9 KM/H
GUSTING TO 11 KM/H |
|
|
|
3 pm |
| 28 ℃ |
| SCATTERED CLOUDS |
WIND: E 7 KM/H
GUSTING TO 11 KM/H |
|
|
 |
4 pm |
| 28 ℃ |
| LIGHT RAIN |
WIND: E 15 KM/H
GUSTING TO 15 KM/H |
|
|
|
5 pm |
| 22 ℃ |
| HEAVY INTENSITY RAIN |
WIND: WSW 13 KM/H
GUSTING TO 36 KM/H |
|
|
|
6 pm |
| 15 ℃ |
| VERY HEAVY RAIN |
WIND: NW 23 KM/H
GUSTING TO 30 KM/H |
|
|
|
|
TODAY |
HIGH OF 28 ℃
LOW OF 13 ℃ |
| VERY HEAVY RAIN |
|
|
 |
MONDAY |
HIGH OF 22 ℃
LOW OF 10 ℃ |
| FEW CLOUDS |
|
|
|
TUESDAY |
HIGH OF 22 ℃
LOW OF 11 ℃ |
| MODERATE RAIN |
|
|
|
WEDNESDAY |
HIGH OF 18 ℃
LOW OF 11 ℃ |
| LIGHT RAIN |
|
|
|
THURSDAY |
HIGH OF 19 ℃
LOW OF 11 ℃ |
| LIGHT RAIN |
|
|
|
FRIDAY |
HIGH OF 11 ℃
LOW OF 8 ℃ |
| LIGHT RAIN |
|
|
|
SATURDAY |
HIGH OF 15 ℃
LOW OF 7 ℃ |
| LIGHT RAIN |
|
|
 |
SUNDAY |
HIGH OF 22 ℃
LOW OF 8 ℃ |
| CLEAR SKY |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
HARDY
WE ARE ALL GONNA DIE
11:20 AM |
|
 |
MORGAN WALLEN
TENNESSEE FAN
11:17 AM |
|
 |
TARA THOMPSON
SOMEONE TO TAKE YOUR PLACE
11:12 AM |
|
 |
CLAY WALKER
SHE WONT BE LONELY LONG
11:08 AM |
|
 |
JAKE OWEN
DREAMS TO DREAM
11:03 AM |
|
 |
JASON ALDEAN
CRAZY TOWN
11:00 AM |
|
 |
OLD DOMINION
CANT BREAK UP NOW
10:57 AM |
|
 |
LADY ANTEBELLUM
COMPASS
10:54 AM |
|
 |
MIRANDA LAMBERT
DAMMIT RANDY
10:51 AM |
|
 |
SAM GROW
STRAIGHT SHOOTERS
10:48 AM |
|
 
 
 |
